Surviving eighth grade
by flyin'rabbit
Summary: Lucy Fabray is about to start eighth grade, and she's not looking forward to it. Less than one day in, she already knows it's going to be awful. When one group of people tries to befriend her, what will happen?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N**: This is, once again, inspired by a random burst of inspiration that won't really leave. It's basically a story about Quinn (or well, Lucy, as she's called in this story) and Blaine in eighth grade - at the same school (in her POV, and Blaine shows up only in the next chapter - just a warning :) ). We know Quinn moved before her freshman year, and Blaine (most likely) wasn't always a private school boy. So this is what I made from it. Also, note that this is in no way a Quinn/Blaine romance story. A tentative friendship is the furthest they'll get.  
>I tried to look up the schools Lauren is talking about in BTW, but couldn't find those or the town mentioned. So I just picked a random town in Ohio. I don't think it matters much, but... just so you know. The chapters will be short-ish (probably between 1,000 and 2,000 words); maybe I'll be able to update somewhat frequently then (as that's quite a problem if you've seen my other stories :\).<p>

And since I'm not American, I've got a couple of questions about (middle) school in the US. It would be awesome if someone would be able to answer them :) I know that in high schools, you have different classes with different people. Is the same thing the case in middle school, or does it vary, or...? As for the schedule - is it the same every day (like I think is the case in high school... right?)? And would teachers call students by their first or last name, or does that vary?  
>Thanks in advance to whoever answers these :)<p>

**Disclaimer**: I don't own _Glee_ :(

Hopefully you'll enjoy the chapter, and please leave a review! :)

* * *

><p>"Lucy, honey!" Judy Fabray called up the stairs. "It's almost time for school!"<p>

"Coming, mother," Lucy replied from her room, still staring in her mirror in disgust. Finally, she turned away, not wanting to look at her reflection for a moment longer. She grabbed her bag from her desk and trudged downstairs.

See, Lucy Fabray did not want to go to school that day. Or any day, really. Today, however, was the first day of eighth grade – the start of another awful year at her middle school. After that, though, came something Lucy dreaded even more – high school. Lucy didn't remember a time when she hadn't been bullied, and at high school, she knew that it would only get worse.

She sometimes wished she could be more like her mother and sister, who were pretty, skinny and blond. Lucy didn't think _she_ was pretty at all – she wasn't skinny or blond at all. And more than that: she also wore glasses and braces, she had acne, and her nose wasn't all that great to look at either. All in all, she felt downright ugly.

And her classmates at school didn't hesitate to let her know that they felt exactly the same way.

None of them seemed to like her and as a result, Lucy had no friends at all at her school. It probably didn't help much either that her parents had practically forced her to join the celibacy club and wear glasses and clothes that might've been acceptable during her sister's school days. That was simply not done, apparently.

Not that she would ever tell her parents about her troubles in school. They already preferred sweet, perfect, engaged-to-a-lovely-Christian-man Frannie over her (she knew it was true, even if her parents tried not to show it), and this would only make it worse.

She quickly shovelled some breakfast into her mouth, grabbed the lunch money her mother had placed on the sink for her, and was out of the door. She would have to hurry if she wanted to catch the school bus.

When she arrived at the bus stop, the school bus was just about to leave – so when she entered the bus, completely out of breath, everyone turned towards her, sneering. And not just the kids whom she actually knew – everyone. Even the bus driver didn't approve of her (almost) tardiness, but then again, that man was never in a good mood.

Lucy looked around, desperate to find a place to sit. Before she had found a seat, however, the bus driver started driving again. Almost instantly, the bus turned around a corner, and Lucy lost her balance. The students she fell virtually on top of pushed her off angrily, while one of them muttered something (probably nothing flattering) under her breath.

Taking a few steady breaths, Lucy got up from the floor. She would not let these people bring her down. She wouldn't take it anymore. When she did find a seat in the end, she sat down, trying her best to hold back tears. There was no way she could make that happen – she simply wasn't strong enough to ignore these people and their hatred.

She didn't even like herself, so who was she to tell all the others off when they made fun of her? They were right, after all, when they said she was ugly and a geek and all those other things.

They were right.

They were absolutely right.

It didn't surprise Lucy that nobody else sat next to her during the remainder of the drive to school. She swore that a couple of girls in her grade were sitting on a bench that was far too small for all of them, just to not have to sit with her.

She was the last to exit the bus, and the driver glared at her. She hadn't even taken that long – she got off the bus two seconds after the last other student.

Often when in church or in bed at night, Lucy would pray to God, asking why he was doing this to her. Why _her_? Whenever she would ask her parents about this, her father would either get a little angry, or just ignore her. Her mother would whisper that God must have a special plan for her, and that one day, it would all get better.

That was a belief Lucy clung to desperately.

On her way to homeroom, she passed Andrew Thornton and Jessica Blake, who were chatting animatedly. Lucy quickly looked away – Andrew and Jessica were two of the only people in her grade – heck, in this entire _school_ – who didn't immediately scowl or make fun of her whenever she was in sight. Still, they seemed to have such a close-knit group of friends that Lucy knew that she would never fit in with them. Thus, she never even tried to talk to them.

If she did, that would mean them getting hell from the rest from the school as well, which would result in her getting rejected again. No matter how much she hated herself sometimes, Lucy would rather live with the idea that not everyone disliked her, even though they weren't friends, than befriending them now and being all alone again a week from now. If they even stuck around for that long.

Normally, Lucy paid attention during all her classes – seeing as nobody talked or sat with her anyway – but today, she immediately drifted off during homeroom, barely hearing what their teacher had to say. She blinked awake when everyone started packing up. She, too, carefully put her books back into her bag and got up, bumping into someone who was walking past.

The student just scoffed and stormed out, which was a better reaction than Lucy was used to getting. As she herself shuffled out, however, she got a last glimpse of her desk and her blood ran cold. Someone had stuck a sign on it, warning everyone else against sitting there – Lucy Caboosey had already claimed it as her seat.

Trying her hardest to fight back the tears – she couldn't cry in school, damn it! – she moved through the school, frantically trying to ignore everyone's whispers around her.

This was, without a doubt, going to be the worst year yet.

* * *

><p><strong>AN**: So... what do you think? I hope you liked it :) Let me know if you have any questions/comments/answers to the questions I asked at the start - please review! :D


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N**: First off, I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed so far (and answered my questions - that was really very helpful). Well then... I suppose without further ado, I give you chapter 2... and, with it, Blaine :) (I guess I could've stalled his arrival for a bit longer, but it's not like I'm planning for this to have 50 chapters or so...) (oh, just to make it clear: I'm going with the suggestion that not all students have all their classes together, but the students vary per class)

Hopefully you'll like it, and please leave a review at the bottom!

* * *

><p>With a heavy heart, Lucy sat down for her second period class – American History. There seemed to be less chairs in this room than in the last, so other students had to sit closer to her. Seeing their disgusted faces when they realised this, Lucy just stared down at her desk. She was already sitting in the front row, completely to the left – a spot she didn't like either, but it was one of the safest ones in a room, as there were less people surrounding her. Her classmates' faces only made it much worse.<p>

Right before the bell rang and the teacher, Mr Gentry, stood up to close the door, a short figure came sprinting in and came to a halt mere inches from where said teacher stood. He smiled impishly at Mr Gentry, who just rolled his eyes at the boy.

"Take a seat, Blaine," Mr Gentry told the boy, who looked like he'd just run a marathon. A couple of students in the class chuckled, but the boy just rolled his eyes at them.

Lucy surveyed the classroom out of the corner of her eye. It was really full, she noticed. And the only two seats left were, predictably, the ones behind and beside her.

The class winced in sympathy as Blaine Anderson sat down in the seat next to Lucy, but the boy himself didn't seem to be too bothered. After a small nod in her direction, he turned to the boy at his other side, who muttered something at him. The exchange didn't last too long, as Mr Gentry started the class.

Lucy tried to absorb all the information as well as she could, trying to ignore the girls a few seats behind her. It was more than obvious that they weren't interested in the overview of the American history Mr Gentry was giving them – rather, they seemed to prefer making remarks behind Lucy's back – literally, this time, not figuratively. They weren't exactly being silent.

Actually, now that Lucy's attention drifted away from what their teacher was telling them, it sounded like a _lot_ of the kids here didn't give a damn about what was taught. Mr Gentry, however, either didn't want to give them the pleasure of interrupting his class for them, or had learned to ignore rebelling students a long time ago.

The only student, apart from her – although, Lucy wasn't paying attention at this moment either – who seemed interested in hearing what their teacher had to say was right next to her. Then again, Blaine Anderson was able to stand out in pretty much every company you put him in. It may not always be a conscious decision, and at times, he didn't stand out at all, but the fact remained that he had the ability to do so.

Other students thought he was a bit odd, even Lucy knew that much. However, he wasn't odd enough to pick on, and Blaine had some friends, at least. True, nobody had any clue as to why those people all chose to hang out together, but they did, and in their own way, they had some sort of weird influence at the school. They weren't bullied or picked on – in a way, you could almost say they were generally ignored by the rest of the school. Or maybe ignored wasn't the right word, Lucy figured. They were left alone. Whenever they needed something from another clique, or vice versa, the situation was dealt with, and after that, there were no lasting… relations with each other.

It was odd indeed, but if it worked for them, who was she to question it?

Other than the fact that she really wanted to know how they'd gotten the rest of the school to leave them alone, that was.

Quickly, Lucy looked back at the teacher, attempting to follow what he was talking about now. As she scribbled down some notes, she heard the giggling of the girls behind her. Sighing as quietly as she could, she closed her eyes. Why didn't they just stop? How was bullying her even funny?

Five minutes before the bell rang, the teacher announced the one thing Lucy had been dreading since she'd gotten out of bed that morning – the thing she had tried to avoid for the past few years.

"Group work," Mr Gentry said, smiling widely. He chattered on about how this group work would affect their marks and what was expected of them, but Lucy tuned out. There was a stack of papers lying on the teacher's desk, most likely filled with detailed information about this project. She'd read it when she got home.

"So choose a partner to work with, and let me know the groups you'll be working in tomorrow," Mr Gentry finished, and Lucy barely stifled a groan. She couldn't wait for – oh wait. There is was already.

"But Mr Gentry," one of the girls sitting behind Lucy (she thought it was Nathalie Gilsdorf, but couldn't be completely sure). "Look at our class. We're with an even number of people!"

Mr Gentry didn't appear to understand the problem, but the class did. Lucy was no exception.

"That means someone has to work alone," a guy on the opposite side of the classroom explained. Lucy wasn't going to give him the pleasure of her turning around to face him.

"There's an even number of students in this class," Mr Gentry said, as if speaking to a group of toddlers. "Which means that there's a partner here for everybody."

"No, it's not," Nathalie countered, sounding a bit annoyed now. "See, Mr Gentry… none of us here _likes_ Lucy Caboosey. She always works alone. Which means that someone else needs to work alone too, seeing as there's an even number of students in this class."

Mr Gentry looked surprised at this, but Lucy honestly wasn't. She was used to this kind of treatment. "I repeat, there's a partner here for everyone," their teacher said. "Nobody's going to be working alone. In fact, Nathalie, why don't _you _work with Lucy _Fabray_ on this project?"

This comment caused an uproar in the class – everyone started protesting, sticking up for the other girl (because how could their teacher even _think_ of inflicting such a horror on poor Nathalie?), and, unsurprisingly, blaming Lucy for the entire situation. "You can't do that!" Nathalie shrieked dramatically. "You can't – I'll be stuck with _her_ the entire year!"

Oh. Lucy had obviously missed the part where it had been said that this group work lasted the entire school year. Suddenly, she began to wonder if maybe, she should say something too. After all, she didn't want to have to put up with someone like Nathalie, who would bully her the entire time and let her do all the work anyway. Someone else, however, spoke up before she had the chance.

"I'll do it," a partly shocked, partly bored voice came from Lucy's right, and the entire classroom fell silent.

"W-What?" Nathalie asked in shock.

Everyone was staring at Blaine in shock, while the boy himself didn't seem to realise what he'd just said – which was probably just a farce, because he'd been at this school for the past two years as well. "I'll work with her," he clarified, smiling briefly at Lucy – so briefly that she wondered if perhaps she'd missed it. "I hear she's one of the smartest people in our grade."

Which was true, of course. Her brain was one of the only things Lucy liked about herself. But even so, no matter what the reason was, one simply did not voluntarily agree to work with her. Then again, Blaine _was_ one of those students who never picked on her.

"Well then," Mr Gentry said after a short pause. "Looks like we've got one group already." Right at that moment, the bell rang, and everyone left swiftly, shooting Blaine incredulous glances as they went. Lucy knew it would be too good to be true if he'd say anything to her now, but still, she couldn't help but be slightly disappointed when Blaine walked out as well, on his way to his next class.

* * *

><p><strong>AN**: So, what do you think? :) Let me know if you have any questions/comments (or if there's something here that's not right...) - please review! :D


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N**: Hello :) So, here's chapter three :) There's (a bit?) more on Lucy here, and no Blaine. Sorry :( I think he'll be back next chapter. And as of last night's episode, this is probably AU... though I may be able to twist the ending chapter around to fit what we've seen/heard there (or before, really :P). We'll see when we get there, I suppose :)

Anyway, hopefully you'll enjoy the chapter, and please remember to leave a review! :D

* * *

><p>The remainder of the day, Lucy felt like she had never left. Everything was the same as it had been before the summer break, and all the students were still spewing hate at her. For once, though, she managed to block them out for the most part – as long as they didn't get physical, but then again, most people were generally too grossed out by her to touch her – as she kept wondering why Blaine Anderson had so readily settled for her as his History project partner.<p>

Maybe he'd been speaking the truth when he'd offhandedly informed the class that yes, Lucy was one of the most intelligent people in their year and that was the reason he wanted to work with her. However, Lucy couldn't help but allow (a very small) part of herself to hope that he… liked her and wanted to be her friend.

A friend sounded good right now; Lucy didn't think she had ever had any friends. Not true friends, at least. Just the kind of friends who only hung out with her because their parents happened to have tea or coffee or dinner together. Friends who would ignore her or taunt her – or who pretended to be nice and then stabbed her in the back as soon as they were at school.

At age thirteen, Lucy no longer relied on her parents to provide her with friends or playmates. She wasn't being dragged along everywhere her parents went anymore, much to the relief of said 'friends'.

Therefore, she was also a little suspicious. What if Blaine would turn out to be just like the rest of them? Who said she could trust him?

Another part of her told her that she didn't have much of a choice – she would have to work with him this entire year anyway. Besides, there was no need for her to confide him with her deepest, darkest secrets anyway, so there would be no chance that he'd have any good gossip or blackmail material once he'd (inevitably, her mind supplied) turned his back on her.

They could work together, pleasantly or not, without prodding too much into the other's life.

Still, no matter how much her mind warned her to be careful (not that it would help in the end), Lucy didn't think Blaine could ever be mean enough to do all those thing other kids did to her.

Almost as if they'd practised it, some seventh grader Lucy didn't know opened her locker and Lucy, walking by at that moment, walked right into it. While the force of the collision didn't necessarily make her fall over, the dizzying effect it had caused that to happen anyway. She slumped down on the floor, only managing to hold herself up by leaning partly against the lockers.

"Well, excuse you!" the – now furious – seventh grader shouted at her. "Why on earth would you do that? Are you retarded? You don't just close a locker because you feel like it, I could've been actually hurt!"

The girl continued spitting insults at her, and her friends glared at Lucy as well. A few passing students cast her non-understanding looks, muttering among themselves – most likely about how it didn't matter anyway, as it was only Lucy Caboosey. Who would help _her_?

Lucy was still catching her breath and trying to get used to the throbbing headache she had now, when all of a sudden, a dozen of feet halted in front of her. "You're sitting in front of our lockers," Dominic Heggie, an rather intimidating football player told her with a growl, while a couple of his teammates looked at the exchange with uneasy looks on their faces.

"Dude, why are you standing so close to her?" one of them asked Dominic. "She might infect you with… with all those diseases Stan and Kassy told us she had, remember?"

_Diseases?_ As far as Lucy was aware, she didn't have any and thus, couldn't infect anyone with anything.

Dominic, in the meantime, looked entirely sickened by her – it wasn't unlike the usual look on his face, but still. "Oh man," he said, turning to his friends, but not before Lucy caught another glimpse of his face. "Now we have to ask the administration to get us new lockers, cause we'll never be able to use these anymore!"

After shooting Lucy some more glares, the group of boys walked off as well. When Lucy closed her eyes for a moment in an attempt to get rid of the aching in her head, she heard someone clear his throat in front of her. Mr Gentry, of course.

"Lucy Fabray," he addressed her, "the school hallways are not for sitting and lounging about, and most definitely not for sleeping. If I'm correct, you've still got another class left today. Would you care to tell me why you're not in class, like the rest of the school?" Lucy opened her mouth, and at first, no sound came out. That seemed to do it for the teacher. "If I catch you one more time, Ms Fabray, it's detention for you. Don't think you can slack off on the first day of school. I expected better from you."

Without waiting for an answer, Mr Gentry was gone again, and Lucy was, once more, left alone. In the end, she managed to get up again, and walk to her final class of the day. After getting scolded for being late, she couldn't fully concentrate once again.

As she walked out after class, she almost missed one of the girls eyeing her strangely – which was almost even more disconcerting than the usual looks of hatred she got thrown her way. "Are you okay?" the girl – Rosie something, Lucy thought; she couldn't be sure, nor could she be bothered much at the moment – asked.

But surely she wasn't talking to Lucy, right? So she just kept on walking until she was out of the building, where the school buses were. It had been a long day; she couldn't wait to get home.

* * *

><p><strong>AN**: So... what do you think? Let me know if you have any questions/comments/anything else, please review! :D


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N**: This was supposed to be up yesterday... obviously, that didn't happen. So here's a slightly longer chapter than usual to make up for it (I hope) :)

Oh - I've got another question, actually. Does anyone have any ideas what history projects on eighth grade could be (/are generally) about? :P (maybe I should've thought of that before...)

Anyway, I hope you like the chapter, and please leave a review at the bottom! :D

* * *

><p>After a rather awkward evening, Lucy was almost eager to escape the house. Her parents had had some friends over, who kept asking how Frannie was doing and what a wonderful (and, more importantly, beautiful) girl she was, shooting Lucy disappointed (and disapproving) glances all the time. Her mother kept saying that Lucy still had to grow into her looks, but Lucy knew the both her parents were starting to doubt this. To be honest, Lucy wasn't too sure about this either. Maybe she should just resign herself to the fact that she'd be an ugly duckling (and despised for it) forever.<p>

So when the morning came, Lucy almost felt relieved. That was, until she remembered that the kids at school, while not knowing her sister, didn't exactly like or approve of her either. Her father had already left for work, and her mother was nowhere in sight. This wasn't unusual, though; her mother was often conspicuously absent the day after a dinner like last night's. Lucy had her suspicions about her mum's whereabouts, but she didn't dare talk about it.

Luckily, someone had remembered to leave some lunch money on the counter, and since Lucy had no time for breakfast anymore, she hastily walked out of the house as quickly as she could. She always planned to get up earlier, but every morning, she dreaded going to school so much that she stayed in bed, hoping that no one would find out about her ditching school… but she knew, deep down, that everyone _would_ find out, and her parents would not be happy at all.

Once again, the bus was about to leave when she rounded the corner, but today, it didn't wait for her. Helplessly, Lucy stood on the sidewalk as she saw the bus driving away quickly. What should she do now? She couldn't call her parents to bring her, and she would never be in time if she had to walk – if she even managed to walk all the way there.

There was no other solution but to find the nearest normal bus stop and hope that there were other buses that came near her school. When Lucy had finally found one, she realised that she wouldn't have enough money for both the bus and lunch. Biting her lip anxiously, she decided that she should be able to go without lunch before getting out of school for one day.

In the end, Lucy arrived at school halfway through second period. After stopping by the attendance office, she trudged towards the classroom, knowing fully well what waited there. After all, a few of her classmates were usually on the same bus as her, and had probably seen her miss it this morning. Knowing them, they had encouraged the bus driver to leave without waiting for her.

Mr Gentry frowned at her as she walked in, head down. She could hear the other kids snickering from all around her, and without looking up, she sat down at her desk, looking towards the front unflinchingly. As her teacher continued his lesson, Lucy tried to take notes, but she couldn't help but be afraid. Afraid of what kind of punishment waited her here, and at home. She had never been late for school before, and her father would definitely have something to say about it.

"Lucy, what is wrong with you lately?" Mr Gentry asked once the class was over and the rest of the class was already out of the room. "Yesterday, I caught you skipping class, and today, you come barging in halfway through the class… what happened to you over the summer? You used to be such a well-behaved girl, but I don't know what to do with you anymore."

"I was late for the bus," she muttered, still keeping her head down. She sighed. "It won't happen again, I promise."

"It had better not happen again," Mr Gentry warned her. "Even so, you'll be in detention this afternoon. So be there, on time." Great. She'd miss the bus again, and she had no idea how else to get back home. It was like everyone and everything in the universe was against her.

No – she shouldn't think like that. She was still a good, Christian girl. God was on her side.

Taking a deep breath, she said quietly, "I will," hoping that this would be all. She didn't want to be late for her next class, after all.

"You can leave now," her teacher told her, and Lucy obediently stood up and walked out of the room.

"Hey," a voice suddenly came from next to her, and Lucy almost tripped over het feet as she whirled around to see who it was. Blaine was smiling sheepishly at her. "Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

"That's alright," she said, still shocked that he was just standing there, talking to, and not about, her. Yes, they were project partners, but Lucy hadn't expected him to willingly talk to her.

Blaine smiled widely now. "I was wondering if we could start the project soon," he said. "After all, the sooner we start, the more time we've got, right?"

Lucy nodded slowly, wondering what he was getting at. "Are you suggesting we start right now?" she asked, unable to keep the slight sharpness out of her tone. She still wasn't certain of his motives.

To her surprise, Blaine just laughed at this. "Oh, of course not," he replied. "I was thinking maybe tomorrow, during lunch?"

Lucy would just have to ask her mother to prepare her lunch for once, then. "In the library?" she asked, figuring that this boy probably wouldn't want to be seen with her for longer than two minutes in a public place.

"I thought that might be the best place," Blaine agreed. "After all, we could see what books there are about various subjects, so we've got an indication of what we can and cannot do."

Oh, right. "I'll be there," she told him, shuffling slightly.

Blaine flashed her another grin, and for some reason, Lucy realised only now that he was actually shorter than her. She hoped for the boy that he'd get a growth spurt some time this year, or else high school would be an interesting experience for him. "Okay, great!" the boy exclaimed. "Uh – I'd better be off now. My class is at the other side of the school. See you around, Lucy!"

He almost sprinted away, dodging between two big footballers and neatly avoiding a crash with a couple of sixth graders. Lucy frowned at his behaviour; was he normally this hyperactive and, dare she think it, child like?

She was brought out of her reverie when someone she didn't know bumped into her side rather forcefully. With a half-hearted glare their way, and a sigh, Lucy walked to her next class as swiftly as she could, weaving through the mass of students. It was odd, really. Some people deliberately walked into her, and others went out of their way not to touch her.

Not that she was complaining about the lack of physical contact, of course.

By the time lunch came around, Lucy was starving. She had tried every trick in the book to keep her stomach from grumbling every two seconds during her last class before lunch break, which had resulted in her having no idea what the class was about. She had a measly amount of money left that would never be enough for the bus ride home, so she figured she might as well look at what she could buy…

An apple.

Lucy eyed the piece of fruit with disdain, but she supposed it would have to do. It was cheap, and it was food. Besides, it was healthier than what she usually got, which might be a good thing.

Either way, at least there was some food in her stomach now; maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

Or maybe it would. Lucy had forgotten all about her detention until she was packing up her bag after her final class of the day. She was hungry again, and now she'd have to wait even longer before she could eat something again.

With a heavy heart, she trudged over to the detention classroom, and she almost automatically sat down in the front left corner. Mrs Gartin, who was clearly in charge now, gave her a small nod as she looked up and glanced around. The room was fairly empty; after all, it was only the second day of school. Not many people had gotten detention already.

Still, a couple of other students came filing in the next few minutes, and Lucy decided to just get a head start on her homework. If she did some of it now, she didn't have to do as much when she got home. That was always good, as far as Lucy was concerned, especially since her parents would not be impressed by the mess she'd already managed to get into.

Lucy was thankful that Mrs Gartin at least kept the room relatively quiet; she'd overheard quite some horror stories about other teachers and detention. When the students were free to go, they all but ran out of the room. Lucy followed in a calmer pace, seeing as she wasn't in a hurry anyway – there were no more buses going her way, and she'd have to wait for one of her parents to come pick her up. If her mother was still missing and her dad was still at work, she might have to stick around for a while.

"Hey," someone greeted her. This time, Lucy knew, it was not Blaine. This wasn't his voice, and besides, she'd seen Blaine leave after the last period, chattering happily with two of his friends. Also – Blaine didn't tower over her like this.

"Uh – hi," she stammered, looking up, promptly coming face to face with Andrew Thornton, the captain of the school's soccer team. She couldn't help blushing a bit; after all, it wasn't every day that someone like him talked to _her_. He was as gorgeous from up close as he was from a distance, she observed, with his impeccable hair and his crooked smile.

"What were you in detention for?" he asked, and Lucy almost stopped breathing for a moment. He was actually talking to her? As in, making conversation with her?

_Oh_. Now she understood. He was probably going to make fun of her later; he was going to use everything she would say now against her at some point. How could she forget?

"I was late this morning," she replied curtly. "Now if you don't mind, I need to call my parents to come pick me up."

Andrew gestured towards the parking lot. "My brother's coming to pick me up. He should be here any minute now. We could give you a ride home, if you want to?"

"That won't be necessary, thank you," she responded, trying to get her hands to stop shaking so she could actually call her parents.

"It's no big deal," he told her. "Look, he's here already. Are you coming or not?"

Lucy pressed her lips tightly together. On one hand, she wanted to just go with Andrew and his brother, without having to bother her parents. On the other hand… she barely knew this guy. She didn't know his brother at all. Would it be safe?

Then, she remembered what the football players had said the day before – people thought she had all kinds of diseases. Surely that would mean these two guys wouldn't try to hurt her, right?

She also noticed that the lot was empty now; of course it was. Otherwise Andrew would never have offered her a ride, she was sure of it.

"Fine," she mumbled in the end, slowly following after Andrew. The boy introduced her to his brother, and told her to give them her address so they could drop her off. Within ten minutes, Lucy was back home, and, not really knowing what to say, she quickly muttered a "Thanks", before walking towards the front door.

Her parents, it appeared, weren't home yet (though they'd probably been informed about her tardiness this morning already anyway), so at least she would have some time to prepare for their disappointment. She sighed. She would really have to start getting up earlier from now on. Stuff like this couldn't happen again.

* * *

><p><strong>AN**: So, what do you think? I hope you liked it :) But let me know what you thought about this, please review!


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N**: This chapter is a bit earlier than it should be, but I promised :P So... enjoy, and please leave a review at the bottom! :)

(On another note, I hope this all sort of makes sense. I kind of just went with the idea that in American History class a bunch of important events in the American history make an appearance... if that's not the case, let me know and I'll see what I can do about it...)

* * *

><p>The next day, Lucy was half an hour too early for school. Sitting down on the front steps, she wrapped her arms around herself. It was inexplicably chilly this morning, and she hadn't thought to bring a coat as she'd seen the sun shine through her bedroom window earlier. She figured she <em>could<em> go inside, but she wasn't sure about whether that was allowed. In the two years she'd spent at this school, she'd usually arrived about five to ten minutes before her first period, not thirty.

As was to be expected, her parents had not been happy with her being late the day before. She had been told to get up earlier, and leave earlier. What was possibly worse, her parents were considering buying her a bike for her birthday now, so she didn't have to grab the bus everyday. Last night, Lucy had spent ten minutes just looking at herself in the mirror and had ultimately decided that maybe a bike wasn't such a bad idea. Maybe she'd even lose some weight that way, something she was almost desperate to accomplish at this point.

She knew, though, that a bike would make her even more unpopular than she already was. None of the cool kids rode bikes around here, and once people found out that Lucy Caboosey came to school on one, they'd probably destroy the thing at the first chance they got and her parents, even if they knew it wasn't her fault, would scold her for not being more careful. Also, Lucy riding a bike would bring an entirely new category of insults along – people would, most likely, ask her if her bike even survived her riding it, or ask if she could even reach around her belly enough to grab the handlebars.

For the remainder of the week, though, Lucy would be brought to school by her father and take the school bus back home. The downside to all this was, of course, that her father usually left for work before Lucy even arrived downstairs, hence her now being much too early for class.

She had neglected to tell her parents that the brother of a boy she hardly knew had dropped her off at home the day before (her mother, as expected, had still been absent). She didn't want to think about what they would say if they ever found out, and it was a one time thing anyway.

When the school buses started arriving, Lucy hoisted herself up from her spot and walked in; she was probably allowed to do so now. She hurried to her locker and placed some of her books in there, hoping that no one would break into it and steal the books or something. It had been months since that had happened, but Lucy didn't know whether that was because the bullies had decided it wasn't funny anymore, or because they wanted her to think that was a safe thing to do again, and then they'd strike.

"Hey, Lucy!" a chirpy voice sounded from behind her, and by now, Lucy had almost grown accustomed to it.

"Hey, Blaine," she greeted the boy back quietly, before noticing that there weren't too many people around yet. If anyone saw Blaine conversing with her now, he could always deny it. Better now than a couple of minutes, when there would be many more witnesses.

Further down the hall, someone called for Blaine, and he smiled apologetically. "Don't forget, we've got an appointment set in the library at lunch," he reminded her – not that she needed that reminder. She'd even remembered to bring some food from home. "Be there," Blaine added, narrowing his eyes slightly, but his smile betrayed him. As he bounced away, Lucy turned back to her locker and closed it, only to find a note taped at the front.

_You suck_.

She'd talked to Blaine for less than a minute; how did this happen? Sure, it was just a note instead of paint, but she still wished people would just leave her alone. Yes, she was hideous, she was well aware of that. Couldn't other people let her be, though? Wasn't it her problem, and hers alone, that her body wasn't exactly shaped like that of the average American girl? She'd heard and read this insult at least a hundred times before, and while there were insults that were much more hurtful, she still felt like she could cry.

"Hey, Lucy Caboosey!" someone yelled at her; she couldn't see who, but that hardly mattered anymore. Nobody in this school liked her, and nearly everyone bullied her and called her names. "You're blocking the entire corridor, get your fat butt out of our sight, would you? We'd like not to puke our guts out at the sight of you this early in the morning!"

The insult was loud enough for everyone to hear, and Lucy turned on her heel and all but fled away, not even bothering to take the note off of her locker. If she left it on, perhaps nothing worse would happen to her locker.

For the first time this school year (it didn't matter that it was only the third day), Lucy managed to concentrate during all her classes before lunch. While everyone else almost ran to the cafeteria, Lucy made her way towards her locker. After lunch, it was always quite busy in the corridors, so she tended to switch her books before that time, if only to avoid the possibility of being humiliated again like she'd been this morning.

Glancing around, Lucy grabbed took out one of her sandwiches, eating it as inconspicuously as she could while walking to the library. She had no doubt that she wouldn't be able to eat _there_, and she didn't think she'd survive on an empty stomach.

Predictably, Blaine was already there. From what Lucy remembered from previous years, he was actually rather punctual. Now she wondered why he'd been almost late for second period two days ago – but that wasn't any of her business.

There seemed to be nobody else in the library, so they were free to discuss their project without having to whisper. Blaine seemed to have a whole lot of ideas already, but the overly enthusiastic boy seemed to have forgotten that they'd gotten a sheet in class on the first day on which everything was explained. When Blaine realised that their first project had something to do with explorers and colonies, he looked put out for a moment. However, only a few seconds later, he started spouting off ideas at Lucy again, and she got the impression that he didn't want to settle for just writing two or three pages on a subject. That was a pity, since writing had become somewhat of a strength of Lucy's. She had, after all, spent the entirety of seventh grade working on projects alone, whether or not she had a project partner.

"Can't we just write something?" she asked meekly, interrupting Blaine as he ranted on about all the various 'wicked' ideas he had for their first project.

"Write something?" he echoed, and he seemed to think about it. "We'll probably have to write about a lot of other subjects, don't you think? This is one of those subjects where we can do anything we want…" He sighed. "But if you want to write a stellar piece of literature on explorers and colonies, I guess we could do that."

He sent her a sad look, and for some reason, he reminded Lucy of a puppy now. And she knew he was right – they'd have to write about at least half the topics they were covering this year. Plus, she supposed there could be much, much worse project partners. Just the fact that she had one for this class was something she'd never expected.

"I suppose we could… make a world map," she muttered in the end, "or what was it you were just saying?"

As Blaine started to hyperactively explain one of his ideas, Lucy realised that when he was happy, the boy also resembled a puppy. Maybe he had dog genes or something. Quickly dismissing that thought (she'd learned that that was impossible, after all), she tried to focus on what he was saying. This was made increasingly hard when she noticed that, of all people, Andrew Thornton was lingering around near the exit of the library. At first, she thought he was there all by himself, but soon enough, another guy joined him. If she didn't know any better, Lucy would be wondering why the captain of the school's soccer team was hanging out with someone like Michael Stanley – who was one of the quietest boys in school – but she'd seen them before. It was just the way they worked.

"Uh, Lucy?" Blaine asked, frowning slightly. "Are you alright?"

She nodded quickly. "Yeah, I'm fine. Are we… done?" Noticing the confused look he gave her, she nodded towards the library exit. "Your friends seem to be waiting for you."

Blaine looked around as well, and brightened up instantly. "Oh, yeah, sure," he said, waving to get the two boys' attention. "I guess we're done. We both still need to eat too, right? And we've got a plan of sorts now. We can discuss it with Mr Gentry tomorrow before or after class, alright?"

Lucy nodded quickly, realising that she was, indeed, still pretty hungry. Blaine grinned at her one final time before rushing out of the library. Within moments, the three friends were gone, and Lucy was, once again, by herself. She packed her own bag in silence and walked out of the library as well, hoping that she would survive her final few periods of the day without getting too much abuse thrown at her.

* * *

><p><strong>AN**: So... what do you all think? Let me know any thoughs/questions/comments, please review! :D


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N**: So... chapter 6 :) There's a bit of a jump in time here - only a couple of days, though - because without any of those, this story could go on forever. I tried to put a bit of 'Quinn' in here, but I'm not sure how that worked out and if it seems OOC or not. Not much Lucy/Blaine interaction here, but I think they'll speak again in the next chapter :)

Hopefully you'll like the chapter anyway, and please leave a review when you're finished! :D

* * *

><p>Mr Gentry seemed surprised (but pleasantly so, fortunately) when Lucy and Blaine came up to him after class the next day to discuss their first project. He reminded them that it wasn't due for another couple of weeks, but also said that he was happy that at least two of his students weren't slacking off. After that meeting, Lucy felt relieved – at least the teacher didn't seem particularly irritated by her anymore.<p>

The two of them decided to meet up again after school on Monday, so they would both have the weekend to do some basic research on the subject. Lucy decided to start that research right away, during lunch – she never had anyone to sit with, everyone would be happier when she wasn't around, and the library, she had noticed the day before, was mostly empty during that time.

So after buying herself some lunch – not her usual, as her parents seemed to be taking all their friends' advice to heart and didn't give Lucy as much money to spend on food as they used to do – Lucy walked through the school, careful not to be seen by anyone. After a quick stop at her locker, she entered the library. She suddenly realised that they hadn't looked for any useful books the previous day, like they'd originally planned. Not that it mattered much; she managed to locate the history section fairly quickly.

There were really only a few books on explorers and colonies, but then again, they could use the internet as well, should they need more information. Taking the books with her, she sat down at one of the empty tables and buried her nose in one of the books.

She was so engrossed in the book that she didn't hear footsteps walking towards her. Given her history with being approached from behind, she really should've developed some sort of sixth sense for that by now, but unfortunately, she hadn't.

"Hey, Lucy," someone greeted her, and Lucy jumped in her chair, completely caught off guard. Her flight instinct was kicking in, but she did dare to sneak a peek at the predator.

"What?" she asked, quieter than she would've wanted. She started gathering the books, intent on checking them out and taking them home with her, no matter if Blaine couldn't use them for his research this weekend. Right now, she just wanted to get out of here before something bad happened.

The girl she now recognised as Rosie – she still didn't know her last name – seemed a bit taken aback by Lucy's reaction, if the shuffling of her feet was any indication. "I was wondering if you could help me out. There's some stuff I don't really understand from math and – "

"Now you're asking for my help and tomorrow you're bullying me again," Lucy finished for her. She didn't know what was wrong with her, exactly, but all of a sudden, she'd had enough. And, she figured, since she couldn't very well fight back against a hundred people when someone mocked her in the hallway, she'd have to get her frustration out right here, when there was only one person standing before her. "If you're honestly that bad at math, though, why don't you take algebra instead? The school year's only just started, and it'll only get harder, you realise that, right?"

"But – " the girl tried to interject, but Lucy wouldn't let her.

"No buts. If you already need help during the first week, maybe you're not as good as you thought you were. And I don't feel like tutoring you the entire year while simultaneously accepting slurs and pestering from you outside this room. So no, I'm not – "

"Rose? You forgot your – oh." Both girls turned around as Andrew stood there with a calculator in his hand, looking from Rosie's stricken face to Lucy's balled fists. "Am I – ," the boy started, but Rosie shook her head.

"No, it's fine. Never mind. Come on, let's get out of here." She took the calculator from Andrew and walked out of the library. After shooting Lucy a non-understanding look, Andrew followed suit.

Blindly grasping the chair, Lucy sat down again, breathing heavily. What had she done now? She had always thought that she was at least better than her tormentors in the sense that she didn't tear people apart for things they couldn't help – this pretty much proved that she wasn't better than them at all. She'd just… lost it.

Looking back at the books on the table, she realised that her next meeting with Blaine might be rather awkward.

o-o-o-o-o

The rest of the day went by swiftly enough. No one was talking to her – as usual – unless it was to insult her, and while she wasn't popular at all, half the people in the school went out of their way to avoid bumping into her because they all hated her so much and were, most likely, afraid to catch whatever they thought she had. Friday went by in a similar manner, and before she knew it, Lucy had survived her first week of eighth grade. She wasn't looking forward to all the other weeks still waiting, though.

On Saturday, she did most of her homework, as she had to go to church on Sunday. She didn't really mind going to church; she'd been raised as a good, religious girl, after all, and her being such a devout Christian seemed to be one of the only things her parents were happy about when it came to her. It was definitely one area in which she didn't disappoint them.

After church, Lucy's sister Frannie came over for lunch, and she even brought her fiancé along. Lucy hadn't known that her sister was engaged, but apparently, their parents did. Of course they did, and of course they hadn't told her. Even though she now had to listen to the perfection that was Frannie and James' lives, she was thankful that her sister was there. Her parents were now too busy gushing over Frannie's engagement ring to pay much attention to her. Plus, Frannie hardly ever acted as though Lucy was a disappointment. They weren't especially close to one another, but at least Frannie smiled at Lucy sometimes.

One downside of having Frannie over for lunch, however, was the fact that James didn't seem too keen on Lucy. He kept looking at her disapprovingly, like so many other people did, as if she could help the fact that she wasn't as good-looking as Frannie. Alright, maybe she could, but that was hardly his business, right? It wasn't like she was actively looking for a guy she would one day marry anyway.

The rest of the day crept by, but while Lucy was glad when it was finally over, she was certainly not looking forward to another week at school.

* * *

><p><strong>AN**: So... what do you think so far? :) Let me know, please review! :D


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N**: A bit earlier than usual since I've got to go to class soon and won't be back until late when I don't feel like updating anymore :) Just a heads up: the next couple of weeks will probably be very busy for me, so updates might be slower than they are now. I'm not abandoning this story, but it might take longer to get the next chapter(s) up.

You know, if I don't die when watching tomorrow's (though for me, it's Wednesday's) episode ;) I'm ridiculously excited for that and I hope I'll be able to contain my happy laughter and possible tears as I'll probably be on the train when watching it :P

Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy the chapter, and please leave a review at the bottom to tell me what you think! :)

* * *

><p>Monday marked the first day in almost a week that Lucy went to school by bus. She'd been told to get out of bed earlier than normal that morning, and at some point, her mother had all but taken the blankets away from her. For once, she had time for breakfast, and she still had more than enough time left to walk towards the bus stop in a relaxed pace and be on time, too.<p>

Perhaps getting up a bit earlier wasn't all that bad after all.

At school, Lucy quickly stopped by her locker, not wanting a repeat of last Wednesday. Scurrying down the hallway towards her first class, she managed to avoid eye contact (and basically any other kind of contact as well) with everyone around.

Her classes went by slowly, which was odd, seeing as she wasn't exactly looking forward to her after school meeting with Blaine either. She wasn't sure if they even needed to meet up, since she'd done most of the work for their project already anyway – she had needed something to distract her from her family during the weekend, after all.

It didn't matter; she couldn't bring herself to approach Blaine during the day, and thus, she was sitting in the library after school, waiting anxiously for the boy. She half hoped that he wouldn't show, but she knew those hopes would be in vain before she'd even spotted him.

When he showed up, Blaine looked less happy and more conflicted than he normally did. It wasn't a good look on his face, Lucy decided almost immediately. It reminded her of the look he'd given her on Wednesday and thus, of a kicked puppy. It was much better to see him smile.

"Hey," she greeted him quietly as he stood still in front of her. He smiled back hesitantly, still not looking completely at ease, and he sat down at the table.

"Hi," he replied.

Before he could continue, Lucy asked, "Can we… talk about the project first? So we can just finish that before you tell me what a horrible person I am?"

Blaine seemed caught off guard for a moment. "Sure," he responded. "I didn't manage to read any books since someone already borrowed all of them, but I did find some stuff on the internet – "

The two of them discussed their project for a while. They really had done most of the work already, and when Blaine discovered that Lucy had actually done much more than him, he insisted on doing the rest of the work himself, and then she could tell him what she thought when he was done.

"Oh, no, you don't have to do that," she told him hurriedly. "I can do that, too."

"But you already did so much!" Blaine protested. "Besides, it was my idea to make a map, so there's no reason for you to do it all by yourself."

"I really don't mind," Lucy replied, and she didn't. Homework was her best working excuse to escape her parents and various dinner guests, it was the only thing that secured her some real privacy – she could do it in her room, without judging stares everywhere.

Blaine shook his head stubbornly. "I insist," he simply said, sliding her notes towards his side of the table, and Lucy briefly wondered what eighth grader used words like 'insist'.

"Can we just do it together, then?" she asked exasperatedly.

Blaine eyed her closely for a moment. "Either you really don't trust anyone in this school or you're a big perfectionist. I already told you I wasn't going to hand it in without your approval, right?"

He had, and Lucy would definitely get angry at him if he handed in their project without showing her the final result. And he was right – she didn't trust anyone in this school, though if she had to pick someone to put all her trust in, she'd probably pick Blaine. He had been the first person to be civil towards her, and was even still talking to her after she'd torn apart one of his close friends. Yes, it was for a project that also counted for _his_ grade, but she wouldn't have mentioned anything if he'd just made her do the entire thing by herself.

"I just…," she started, not knowing what she was going to say as of yet. "I just like being busy. And it's not like I have any friends, so there's no other way for me to spend my time at home."

She'd probably said to much now, but Blaine didn't say anything. A small frown had appeared on his face, but that was all. "Tell you what," he eventually said. "We can work on the project together on Saturday, if that's fine with you? I could come to your house, or you come to mine, I don't mind either way. And to make sure you don't do any work – or all of it – beforehand, I'm going to take these notes home with me."

Lucy watched pitifully as all her nicely printed notes disappeared into Blaine's bag. Still, she reckoned, it wasn't as bad as people pouring their drinks (or hers) over them, or 'accidentally' putting them in a shredder.

"Fine," she agreed. "I'll come to your house on Saturday. Do you have any supplies?"

"I'll ask my mom to buy some things," he promised. There was a short silence before Blaine spoke up again. "Now that that's out of the way… what exactly happened on Thursday?"

Lucy frowned at him, confused. Hadn't he heard about that by now? "Don't you already know?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I just wanted to hear your side of the story."

Of course he would. "I'd just had enough," she answered curtly. "In case you hadn't noticed, Blaine, nobody in this school likes me. So I'm not exactly inclined to help whoever asks me, because I know how it'll all end up."

"That's what we thought," Blaine replied, causing Lucy to look at him in surprise. "I mean, it doesn't excuse what you did – Rosie's never bullied you and if you have to yell at somebody, it would make more sense to actually yell at someone who's making your life miserable. But we figured you must've reached your boiling point by now. Still, Rosie was pretty upset."

So what did he want from her now? An apology? Inwardly rolling her eyes, Lucy said, "I'm sorry for yelling at her. I shouldn't have, but it just happened."

Blaine nodded; obviously, an apology was really what he'd hoped for, even if both of them knew it didn't sound very sincere. "Okay. But it's not me you should be apologising to."

Lucy sighed quietly. It looked like she had something to look forward to tomorrow.

"Come on," Blaine told her. "We're done here, and I think the library's going to close up soon."

"Already?" That was early. Blaine just shrugged.

"It's a middle school library. There aren't many people who come here, and classes ended a while ago. I doubt this place stays open very long."

As they walked through the empty corridors, Lucy tried her hardest to come up with something to talk about. Before she could think of anything, they (almost predictably) ran into Andrew. Why was he still here, though? Had he gotten another detention?

"How was practice?" Blaine asked after they'd greeted one another. Oh, right – soccer practice. Lucy didn't know the ins and outs of the school sports teams, so she had no idea when they practised. As it turned out, the soccer team practised on Mondays.

As Andrew told Blaine about what had happened, he suddenly caught sight of Lucy (a little, annoying voice in the back of her head wondered how he could've looked past her in the first place). The boy fell silent and glanced from Blaine to Lucy, as if he wasn't sure what to do. Only when Blaine gave what looked like an almost imperceptible nod did Andrew continue his story.

"You want to catch a ride with us, Lucy?" Blaine asked when they made it out of the front doors. Following his line of sight, Lucy found herself looking at the slightly familiar car in which Andrew's brother had given her a ride the previous week.

"No, thanks, that's fine," she declined quickly. "My mom's coming to pick me up any minute now. I'll be fine."

When she'd informed her parents that she had to discuss a project with someone after school, her mother had told her she'd come to get her afterwards if all the school buses going their way had already left. And they had.

Her parents might not know about how she'd gotten home the week before after her detention, but really, what did they think? That she'd walked?

"You sure?" Lucy noticed that Blaine was doing all the talking; Andrew was just looking at her as if he didn't quite trust her. It was strange; before (well, last school year), Lucy had thought that something might be going on between Blaine and Rosie. Now, however, she wondered if it could be Andrew and Rosie who were more than just friends.

Ignoring the sting in her gut that she couldn't really explain, she shook her head. "No, I'll be fine." She could already see her mother's car on the other side of the parking lot, unmoving. Of course her mother was going to let her walk all the way there, even if it was much easier for her to just come closer to the school. Oh well, there wasn't much she could do about it. "I'll see you boys around."

With that, she trudged away, moving towards her mother as swiftly as she could, hoping that her mother wouldn't start interrogating her about who those boys were. Fortunately, her mother barely spared her a glance after she got in the car, and Lucy suspected that her mother had probably forgotten all about picking her up and had ended up having to interrupt whatever she'd been doing to rush to the school.

Sighing, Lucy leant against the window. One school day down, four more to go.

This week.

* * *

><p><strong>AN**: So, what do you think? :) Let me know, please review!


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N**: I know I said this might take a bit longer... but then it didn't (much). Still, though, this chapter sort of only happened because I didn't have anything to do during a train ride, which I'm not sure will happen again very soon, so I'm not sure when the next chapter will be up :) I think that'll be all for now; I hope you'll enjoy this chapter, and please leave a review at the bottom! :)

* * *

><p>Throughout the rest of the week, Lucy tried to avoid her parents as well as she could. She knew she'd have to tell them eventually that she had to go to Blaine's house on Saturday, but for some reason, she was having a hard time doing so. It shouldn't be this hard, seeing as they were only going to work on a project, but soon enough, Lucy found herself sitting at the kitchen table on Friday night, fidgeting in her chair and poking her food around on her plate.<p>

"Lucy, honey?" her mother started. "What's wrong?"

Her father looked up too, frowning at her. "I thought that by now, you would've outgrown playing with your food…"

"Sorry," Lucy muttered quietly, setting down her fork.

"Is there something you need to tell us?" Her gather asked, sounding a little suspicious.

_How did they know?_ "It's nothing," Lucy replied. "It's just.. stupid."

"You know you can talk to us, dear," her mother said, and Lucy had to restrain herself from saying that she'd never really gotten that impression. No, she was a good daughter who didn't say things like that.

"Would it be alright if I go over to a… classmate's house tomorrow?" she finally asked without thinking too much. It was an ideal opportunity, after all, and this was probably a lot less bad than her parents might've expected.

"Would this.. classmate happen to be a boy?" her father asked strictly. When she nodded, he continued, " Lucy, we've talked about this, and the same went for your sister when she was your age. No boyfriends until you're in high school."

"No!" she exclaimed. "I mean, he's not my boyfriend." Even if she would be interested in Blaine (which she wasn't), there was no way _Blaine_ would be interested in her that way. "We're working on a History project together."

Her mother looked surprised. "He's your project partner?"

"Yes, he is," Lucy replied, pretending not to be bothered by the fact that her mother seemed to find it hard to believe that there was someone willing to work with her. So had she initially, after all. "We're finishing our first project this weekend, and we wanted to do that at his house. His parents are probably around, too."

Her father seemed to be thinking hard. "You're doing more projects together than just this one?" he asked. When Lucy nodded, he added, "Have him come here next time. I'd like to know what kind of guys you hang out with. Boys your age can't be trusted."

"Dad," Lucy said pleadingly. "We're not doing any of that, I promise."

"We know, honey," her mother said soothingly. "But we don't know this boy."

"What's his name anyway?" Lucy's father asked. "You didn't mention it, did you?"

Lucy shook her head. "His name's Blaine Anderson."

"You'll do your next project here," her father repeated, and with that, the discussion was closed.

o-o-o-o-o

The next day, Lucy's mother dropped her off at Blaine's house. Her parents had wanted to make her walk there at first, but after realising that Blaine lived on the other side of town, they relented and agreed to drive her.

As she walked up to the house, Lucy was very glad that she and Blaine were at least sort of friendly. This would be much harder if they didn't get along. On top of telling her parents about the trip to Blaine's house, Lucy had also had to apologise to Rosie for what had happened the previous week. Fortunately, that had gone over rather well – even though Rosie seemed more uncomfortable than happy about that fact that Lucy had apologised, for whatever reason.

When she rang the doorbell (her mother had already left), Blaine opened the door almost immediately. "Hey, Lucy!" he greeted her, a smile on his face like always.

"Hi, Blaine," she replied, a little less enthusiastically – nothing new. "Were you standing behind the door, or what?"

For some reason, his smile grew as she said this. "Oh, no, I wasn't," he assured her. "I was just going upstairs to get our stuff; I figured you'd be more comfortable working at the kitchen table." She nodded slowly. As she shrugged off her coat, he said, " Oh, let me help you with that." Before Lucy knew what was happening, Blaine had helped her out of her coat and hung the garment on the coat rack. It almost seemed like it was his second nature or something. "Wait here," he told her as he hurried upstairs – he didn't thunder up the stairs, like some many people (especially their age) did, but he was up- and downstairs again swiftly anyway, without any unnecessary noise.

"So your parents are alright with you having a girl over?" Lucy asked without thinking, but fortunately, Blaine didn't say anything about that. He did pause for a moment and he shot her a confused (but also a bit amused) look.

"Of course they're fine with it!" he exclaimed. "I have Rosie over more often than not, and Jess and Caroline are here a lot as well." Then, all of a sudden, his face seemed to darken, catching Lucy off guard for a second. She'd never seen this look on Blaine's face. "I guess my parents – " the boy continued, before breaking off his sentence. "Never mind. Come on in."

Lucy didn't know what she had expected the inside of Blaine's house to look like – probably bubbly and happy, like him. Maybe she'd also thought that Blaine himself took after his parents in this respect.

She couldn't have been more wrong. The house seemed almost cold (even colder than her own house), and very modern in a depressing way. Not cosy at all. It did, however, give off the air of being the house of some very polite and serious people and, well, Blaine kind of had those qualities too, deep down. Lucy just missed the other side of his character here around the house.

She thought she could already see the kitchen, but Blaine guided her to another room – the sitting room, from the looks of it. The couple sitting there looked up as they entered, and Lucy just knew that these were Blaine's parents, and she probably would've know even if she weren't in their house right now. Blaine looked a lot like his mother (he seemed to get his height from her as well), but Lucy was sure that he'd gotten some of his father's features too; she just didn't know either of them well enough to notice it.

"Mom, dad, this is Lucy," Blaine introduced her. "Lucy, my parents."

Blaine's father only nodded his head at her, but his mother, after glancing from her husband to her son, beamed at Lucy. "Hello, Lucy. It's a pleasure to meet you!" She got up and shook Lucy's hand with a large smile. Turning to Blaine, she asked, "Do you need any help setting everything up? Or do you know where everything is?"

To Lucy's surprise, Blaine just nodded, his face emotionless and his stance rigid. It was starting to become slightly unnerving. "We're good, mom," he said. "Come on," he told Lucy in an uncharacteristically soft voice. As he walked out of the room, he didn't even look back to see if she was coming too. Casting one last look at Blaine's parents (his father was still sipping his coffee, his mother was still smiling), Lucy followed Blaine into the kitchen, where he was already laying out some of the stuff they would need.

If he had sent his mother shopping, she must've gone all out, Lucy observed. That, or they still had a whole lot of things lying around from when Blaine was younger, and he had been a very creative child.

After what seemed like ages, Blaine broke the silence hanging between them. "You can just sit wherever; did you want anything to drink?"

"Some water would be fine, " she replied, attempting to see what would, strategically, be the best spot to sit in.

Blaine explained his plan to her – he'd already made a plan, using her notes, apparently – and then, they set to work. It wasn't the most tedious task in the world, and Lucy found herself actually enjoying this. Perhaps essays weren't the only way of doing a project after all. Some creativity was nice sometimes.

For the most time, they worked in silence, only speaking when it absolutely had to do with the map they were making. Because of this, they managed to finish fairly quickly, and Lucy had to admit, she was happy with the final result, something Blaine was very thankful for.

"Lucy, dear, are you staying for dinner?" Both teens looked up as Blaine's mother entered the kitchen. The woman smiled winningly, but Lucy had to decline anyway.

"I'm sorry, Mrs Anderson," she said, "my mother's picking me up later, they're expecting me to be done before dinnertime."

"Oh, alright." For some reason, Blaine's mother looked slightly disappointed at hearing this. "Well, I'll just leave you two alone now."

Okay, something was definitely going on here. When Lucy looked back at Blaine, however, he was intently picking up various items they'd used, and putting them away.

"Do you need some help with that?" Lucy asked, rising from her seat, but Blaine simply shook his head. Nodding numbly, Lucy sank back onto her chair, fiddling with her phone – well, Frannie's old one, actually.

"You can… call your parents, if you want to," Blaine told her. "I'll just… go and put this in my room, okay?" he gestured towards the map. "We can ask what to do with this on Monday, if we should hand it in already or not."

Lucy nodded, already looking or the home phone number. A little later, her mother called again to let her know she was outside the house, and after saying goodbye to Blaine and his parents, Lucy left.

She knew it wasn't her place to pry – it never had been and it never would be, most likely – but she wondered what it was about the Anderson household that made Blaine so… unlike the boy she knew from school. Pushing the thought from her mind, she tried to listen to her mother, who was telling her a bout how Frannie and James weren't joining them for lunch the next day, as they were going to James' parents instead. Lucy tuned her out when she talked about hosting a joint lunch sometime. Lucy had rather that didn't happen.

It was certainly going to be a long week, she could feel it.

* * *

><p><strong>AN**: So, what do you think? :) Let me know, please review! :D

PS: a small something about Blaine's parents, or, well, my view on them for this story. They're not homophobic as in hating gay people. They're just not entirely comfortable with gay people, if that makes sense. Perhaps because they just aren't used to it, or because they feel like Blaine's life might be a lot easier if he'd be straight. No, Blaine hasn't come out yet, and while he's not as stereotypically gay as Kurt is, I think parents might notice little things anyway. I'm no expert in this field, so feel free to tell me if this doesn't make any sense whatsoever. This might be treated in a future chapter, but I felt like I should just give this brief explanation (of sorts) here, now :) (this is kind of my headcanon for, well, the canon on the show as well, actually. I couldn't stand Blaine's father being a homophobe or something :( )


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N**: So... first I think I owe you guys an apology for the long wait. I'm sorry. I never thought I'd take this long to put up a new chapter. However, since I'm still rather busy, updates may still be a bit sparse (if existing at all :\) for the next few weeks. I know I've been posting other stuff, but somehow, this is harder to write. I think this is just a little more serious than I'm used to writing.  
>Once I have more time to write, though, I'm going to try to speed this story up a bit. I'm not going to skip months or so, but there are only so many canon elements (on both LucyQuinn's side and Blaine's) I can use in this and so much bullying I can put Lucy (and Blaine...) through. That's just something for the future, not for now. This takes place two days after the previous chapter.  
>Also, question: when's summer break in the US, roughly speaking? I don't know if it varies for different states, schools, grade levels, etc., but a rough indication would be great to work with (then I'd know when this story started, haha). So, thanks!<p>

Hopefully you'll enjoy the chapter, and please leave a review at the bottom! :)

* * *

><p>When Monday came around, Lucy was relieved that she hadn't taken the History project home with her. If she had, she would've probably brought it to school with her, which would've been disastrous.<p>

It had rained non-stop on Sunday, and even now, it was drizzling just a little bit. Lucy hated this kind of weather – you hardly noticed it was raining, but you still got wet within minutes. If possible, that was worse than knowing that it was raining: at least you could mentally prepare yourself in the latter case.

Because of all the rain, there were puddles everywhere. Taking great care in steering clear from all of those, Lucy made her way towards the school. She hadn't counted on the mass of students behind her when she'd started walking a little more slowly: kids from grades six to eight came running towards the school at an awful speed, not minding if _they_ stepped into one of the many puddles. Needless to say, Lucy's jeans were almost soaking wet by the time everyone had gone inside.

Sighing, she made a mental note to bring an extra outfit to school tomorrow – in a waterproof bag, preferably. Today, she'd managed to escape with only some wet jeans, but who knew what they'd do tomorrow. Knowing some of the bigger kids, who were also too dumb to remember the false rumour that Lucy carried diseases and whatnot, they'd try to trip or push her tomorrow, making her fall into one of those puddles.

Yes, a spare set of clothes would probably come in handy.

Before first period, Lucy somehow ended up with bubblegum in her hair, so she spent the whole period trying to get it out. Eventually giving up when the bell rang for second period, she walked towards her History class, head bent down as always. She didn't need to look around, after all, to notice the kids around her nudging their friends, pointing at her and laughing at the ridiculous state her hair was in.

She wasn't looking forward to going home either, as her mother would probably grab the scissors and cut off the chunk of hair the gum was in. As if that wasn't bad enough, she would then send Lucy to the hairdresser for an, according to Judy Fabray, much needed haircut. Lucy, however, would rather not have her hair cut just yet.

As she sat down in class, Blaine immediately turned towards her to say something. He stopped short, however, when he noticed the gum. "What happened to you?" he asked incredulously.

She shrugged. "Someone used my hair as a gum wrapper?"

To her shock, he actually _smiled_ at that. And here she'd thought he might actually want to be her friend.

"Come sit with us at lunch," he then told her, and Lucy did a double take. _What? _"Jess' little sister gets gum in her hair all the time. If anyone knows how to get rid of it, it's Jess."

"I doubt your friends like me all that much," she muttered.

Apparently, Blaine wasn't sure whether to confirm or deny that, as he just said, "Just sit with us, okay?"

o-o-o-o-o

After class, they'd gone to Mr Gentry to ask about the project, and when their teacher had asked them to bring it to school the next day, Blaine happily assured him that he would. Lucy sighed. It must be nice to be the best friend of the captain of the school's soccer team, even if Andrew didn't care much about popularity anyway. The title did bring a certain degree of safety with it that Lucy longed to have, if only for a short time.

During her next classes, Lucy tried to ignore the whispers and giggles of her classmates, much like she always did. That was not to say it got easier, because it didn't.

Not too certain about Blaine's offer to sit with him and his friends, Lucy went to stand in line to buy lunch. Maybe she should have a look at the healthier options for once, she decided. However, her plans of getting a fruit salad or whatever it was healthy and skinny people ate were forgotten as soon as she saw that there was bacon as well.

She'd just grab a fruit salad tomorrow.

"Hey, Lucy, wait up." She looked up in surprise as someone – a girl – called her name. "Hi, I'm Caroline," the girl introduced herself once she'd gotten out of the lunch line. "Blaine said you needed Jess' advice?"

Lucy glanced around nervously. A lot of people just continued eating and talking to their friends, but there were definitely a few groups who noticed that somebody was actually talking to Lucy. "Uh… yeah," she muttered. "I mean – I get it if – I wouldn't want to intrude or – "

"Nonsense," Caroline told her. "Come on." She led Lucy towards the lunch table, and as they approached, she said conspiringly, "Don't mind them; they're such _boys_." Lucy didn't understand what she was referring to at first, but then she noticed Blaine and Michael enthusiastically participating in an arm wrestling match with Andrew egging both of them on, and then she got it. She hadn't pegged Blaine as the type of guy for this sort of thing, but she supposed Caroline was right; he was still such a boy.

The two girls sitting at the table smiled politely at Lucy as Caroline sat down next to Blaine, rolling her eyes. "Hey, Lucy," Rosie greeted her, seeming a little reluctant. To be honest, Lucy still wasn't sure how to behave around the other girl either after last week's incident. "How's your History project coming along? Has Blaine driven you nuts yet?"

"Hey!" Blaine protested from the other side of the table, and then came a victory cry from Michael's direction; apparently, Blaine had been sufficiently distracted by Rosie's jab for Michael to win their little match. Needless to say, this caused another round of protests from Blaine.

"It's… going fine," Lucy replied, still shocked that people were actually talking to her. "We've got the first project done, actually."

"Took us all afternoon on Saturday," Blaine butted in. "Sorry about my parents, though," he added, turning towards Lucy. "My mom tends to get a little intrusive sometimes, and my dad... well, I don't even know."

"Your parents were home, Blaine?" Andrew asked, sounding surprised. "When's the last time _that_ happened during a weekend?"

Blaine rolled his eyes at his friend. "I don't know, a long time ago? Around my birthday? Something must've gotten cancelled; otherwise they'd never have stayed home voluntarily."

"Blaine, your birthday was in _April_," Rosie pointed out worriedly.

Blaine shrugged. "I've got you guys, right?"

Once the others quieted down a bit after that, Lucy said, "It's okay, though. That they were home, I mean. I don't think my parents would've been very elated to find out your parents weren't there while I was over."

"Why not?" Caroline asked. "Blaine wouldn't hurt a fly!"

"He's like a teddy bear," Michael agreed quietly, and Andrew moved forward slightly to ruffle Blaine's hair, to which the owner of said hair tried to pat the hands away, whining almost inaudibly.

"A teddy bear? Really, guys?" Blaine asked exasperatedly.

"Yeah! You're soft, tiny, and short, and you like wearing bow ties, at least in your spare time!" Andrew explained happily.

All through lunch, Lucy was surprised at the amount of teasing going on, besides the normal conversation. Most of it she couldn't follow, but she had a nice time anyway. These people must really be great friends.

When the end of the lunch break approached, Blaine suddenly asked Jessica, who was in the middle of a discussion about music with the Caroline, "Jess! Did you talk to Lucy about the gum yet?"

Oh, right. The gum. Essentially the reason why Lucy had been invited to sit with this group in the first place. Even though Lucy wasn't too sure what to think about Jessica's advice – namely, put peanut butter in her hair to get rid of the gum – she didn't want to have to cut all her hair off. So this was her only real chance. Hopefully, they had some peanut butter at home.

* * *

><p><strong>AN**: Apparently, I put some references to canon!Quinn in this chapter. Well, she is the same person, so that shouldn't be too problematic, right? Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please review! :D


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N**: Sorry for the wait (again). Hopefully you'll enjoy this chapter :)

* * *

><p>Just like she'd expected, Lucy was all but pushed into a puddle the next morning. She had scarcely enough time to change into dry clothes in one of the cramped bathroom stalls before first period. Somehow, though, she managed to do it.<p>

Some people had the nerve to look disappointed when she showed up wearing dry clothes, but Lucy scurried to her seat without saying anything about it. They'd only laugh at her, after all.

As she put the bag of wet clothes in her locker between classes, a group of girls passed her, muttering quietly. One of them actually stopped walking and turned around to say, "There's dirt in your hair, Lucy Caboosey. Don't you ever take a shower?"

The hallway exploded, and Lucy felt almost inclined to crawl into her locker and hide. She had _tried_ to dry her hair earlier, but apparently, her hair being _wet_ had been but one of her problems.

"Just leave her alone." Frowning, Lucy perked up slightly. That was just a figment of her imagination, wasn't it? Who would ever stand up for her, and why?

As she looked around, she realised that it must've been Blaine – which was odd, because they weren't even really friends, were they? They were just working on a project together. Andrew was standing next to him – which might've been the reason why people actually walked away. Blaine might be able to say stuff like that and get away with it, but the fact that he was barely five foot tall did take away from the amount of fear he inspired in the students around him.

"Come on, let's go to class," Blaine said, turning to her. After doing some weird handshake with Blaine, Andrew took off as well. Only now did Lucy realise Blaine was walking around with their History project in his other hands.

"You really didn't have to do that," she told him as they walked. "It happens all the time, I'm used to it by now." That was only partly true; yes, it happened all the time, but each blow, be it physically or emotionally, hurt. "Should I carry that?" She asked, gesturing towards the rolled up map.

Blaine just grunted at first, before shaking his head. "No, it's fine. It's not heavy or anything."

As they entered the classroom, people were whispering about something. They stopped for a moment before continuing, and Lucy started feeling rather uncomfortable. Seeing as their teacher wasn't there yet, there was no way that class would start already, or that the other kids would at least feel a little restricted in what they could say or do.

"Hey, Blaine!" Someone in the middle of the classroom hissed. "Anderson!"

Blaine turned around, looking a little suspicious, but, from what Lucy could see, he smiled nonetheless. "Yeah? What's wrong?"

The boy who'd called him just snickered a bit, and the girl sitting next to him asked, "Are you dating Lucy Caboosey now?"

Lucy, who hadn't turned around, felt her hands grip the edge of her desk. Could they get anymore childish?

"Of course not," Blaine scoffed. "Do you mean you're dating everyone you stand up for? Because…" Some people in the room sniggered at his insinuation. "But Lucy hasn't done anything wrong, has she? Why are you all pestering her anyway?"

"She's Lucy Caboosey," another girl, who wasn't laughing, replied. "That's reason enough."

Fortunately, their teacher walked in at that moment, and everyone quieted down pretty quickly. Lucy didn't dare look up all throughout class; it was clear that, whatever she did, people were going to whisper about it and judge her for it.

After handing in their project after class – they wouldn't have to present this in front of the class, but the same wouldn't go for certain future projects – Blaine asked, "Are you going to be joining us for lunch again today?"

Lucy stared at him like a deer caught in headlights. "Uh – why?"

Blaine blinked, giving her a slightly confused look. "Why not?"

"Won't your friends be annoyed if I sit with you again?" she asked, slowly walking towards her next class.

"No, they won't," Blaine replied. "Caroline was actually the one to suggest it in the first place. She said she's seen you in church sometimes and it doesn't look like you've got any friends there, so…"

Oh. That was news. Lucy knew that some of her classmates went to the same church as she did, but she'd never noticed Caroline before. Then again, she hadn't really been looking. "Yeah, I'll – I'll think about it," she said in the end, before parting ways with Blaine.

They didn't have bacon in the cafeteria that day, so Lucy decided to grab a salad now. No matter what had happened these past few weeks, she tried to not stand out too much (which was pretty hard, being her; everyone seemed to always notice her, much to most people's dismay). Then, Rosie turned up and all but directed Lucy towards the same table they'd sat at the day before.

Not really knowing what to do, and if the others really wanted her there, Lucy remained silent for the biggest part of the lunch break. The salad she'd got was different from anything she'd ever eaten for lunch (except for that apple she'd had two weeks earlier), and she had some trouble with getting herself to eat it. Yes, she ate salads as part of dinner sometimes, but she'd never had to survive on just a salad for the entire afternoon. Maybe she'd just have to swallow whatever pride she had left and ask her mother to make her lunch – something sort of healthy but more than what she'd had today. She figured she could try to make it herself, but it would, most likely, end up being even less healthy than what she usually got.

When it was almost time for class, Lucy had barely said three words. They'd attempted to talk to her – Jessica asked how the gum incident had ended, Rosie and Caroline tried to talk math with her, and Andrew tried to talk the whole group into coming to his first soccer game of the season later that week – but it had felt so odd, just talking to people, that she just hadn't talked much. Besides, she could feel the eyes of the other students on them, most likely judging them and wondering why they were hanging out with her. She didn't want to make that worse. So with a quick goodbye, Lucy left the table two minutes before the bell rang and all but fled the cafeteria.

* * *

><p><strong>AN**: So, what do you think? Let me know, please review!


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N**: I'm so sorry it took so long again! I'll try to write a bit faster next time :\ Anyway, hopefully, you'll enjoy this, and if you feel like it, please review!

* * *

><p>That Friday night, Lucy was all bundled up and waiting at the door to go. It wasn't that cold outside, but she'd be sitting still for a rather long time. She figured a couple of extra layers wouldn't hurt.<p>

Before long, her father arrived downstairs, also wearing a thick sweater. Lucy sent him a grateful smile. If it hadn't been for him, she wouldn't be able to go to the first soccer game of the season at her school. Normally, she couldn't care less about sports games, but that wasn't the case now. Andrew had, eventually, managed to pester all of his friends into coming, and after that, Lucy had quickly given in as well. Her parents – being familiar with her lack of interest in the game – seemed surprised that she wanted to go, but still hadn't wanted to let her go there on her own, no matter how much she begged. In the end, her father had relented and promised he'd go with her.

It was the first father-daughter activity they'd planned in ages, and even though they weren't exactly going to bond or anything, Lucy was still pretty happy about it. He was still her dad, after all. She hoped, though, that none of the other kids were going to call her names in front of her father.

"Are you ready to go, Lucy?" her father asked, putting on his coat. She nodded. "Come on. We have to find some good seats."

They didn't talk on their way to school; her father just drove, and Lucy sat up straight in the passenger seat. She didn't want to get a lecture on how she was ruining her posture yet again.

It looked like the entire school was there, or was going to come, at least. Still, Lucy suspected that most people hadn't expected _her_ to be there. Her father placed his hand on her shoulder and steered her through the masses, occasionally nodding or greeting someone he knew. Lucy kept her eyes cast downward the whole time.

"So who are they up against?" her dad asked all of a sudden.

Lucy frowned. "I'm… not sure." She could've sworn Andrew had mentioned it at some point, but it must've escaped her notice. He had such beautiful eyes, and how could she be expected to pay attention to what he was saying when the sound of his voice was enough to put her in a trance?

She sensed her father's frustration, but couldn't think of anything else to say.

"We could sit here," she said in the end, nodding at a virtually empty row of seats. At least no one could try to accuse her of trying to spread whatever infectious diseases she was rumoured to have (where she would've gotten them was still a mystery to her) now.

Soon, her father turned in his seat to strike up a conversation with a co-worker, and Lucy glanced around the stands. She had kind of hoped to run into Blaine or Caroline or someone else from that group, but she figured they were doing enough by inviting her to sit with them for lunch all the time. Not that they were obliged to, of course, and Lucy wouldn't blame them if they stopped doing that at some point.

Lucy had learned that Jessica's older brother, who was in high school now, was some sort of football legend at their school, and that Michael had a black belt in karate – something she had not seen coming at all. Either way, they would be fine; no one would try to harm them. She wouldn't, and she knew that the bullying would probably get even worse after they stopped hanging out with her. So she tried to keep her distance, which was proving to be hard, as they always seemed to know where she was hiding from them.

Soon, though, she realised, another project would be coming up. If she figured out what to say this weekend, she might be able to convince Blaine to let her do it all by herself. She honestly didn't mind, and it gave her something to do.

Then again, she'd already tried almost everything, and nothing had worked so far. Blaine was a nice guy, but rather stubborn as well when he wanted to be. Perhaps those things worked together in this – Blaine was too nice a guy to accept credit for something he hadn't done.

A couple of other people sat near them – though none of them in the same row – before the game started, but luckily, her father didn't comment on this. He must've noticed it happening, though.

Lucy, who was rather inexperienced when it came to watching soccer, didn't really have any idea as to what was happening during the first half. She mostly kept her eyes on Andrew, who, she couldn't help but notice, looked pretty good in this attire.

During halftime, her father – who, she suspected, wouldn't attend another match with her – walked off to find another colleague of his. Lucy remained in her seat, hoping to be left alone. Caroline and Jessica did stop by for a minute on their way to get some drinks, but Lucy had to decline their offer to sit with them; her father wouldn't be amused at all.

Fortunately, halftime didn't last for too long, and the second half, Lucy tried to pay some more attention to the game itself. She concluded that she should really look into some basic rules if she was going to watch more games – if her parents would let her come, of course.

She clapped along enthusiastically when the other school's team lost, though she quickly stopped when she realised that her father had apparently deemed two claps to be enough. Everyone started to get up and walk back to the parking lot, and when Lucy and her father did the same thing, someone came running up to them.

"Hey, Lucy!" Andrew greeted her happily – a little too happily for someone who'd run around like a madman for the past hour or so. "I'm so glad you came to watch!"

Lucy smiled weakly in response, already feeling a blush coming up. That couldn't possibly be attractive, right? Not that she had to worry about that, though. "You're… welcome, I guess? You were really good out there. I think."

"Never seen a soccer game before?" Andrew guessed. "You should've said so before, I could've explained it to you a bit."

"You mean, you would've bored her to death and most likely skipped class in order to talk more about it," Michael interrupted them. Andrew grinned brightly at his friend, who just rolled his eyes.

"Have you seen my parents?" Andrew asked, and when Michael nodded tentatively, Andrew dragged him away, shouting a goodbye over his shoulder.

"Lucy?" her father asked. "Who was that boy?"

Still blushing furiously, Lucy looked up at him. "That was Andrew, dad. You know, the guy who practically _told_ me and his friends to come to the game tonight?"

Her father frowned. "Are you sure that boy's not after something else here? You know that you can't – "

"Dad!" Lucy exclaimed, looking around quickly to make sure nobody was eavesdropping or watching. "He's the captain of the soccer team. Of _course_ he's not interested. And I know that I'm not allowed to date until next year at least. Trust me, I won't."

Because no one would date her anyway; and even if someone would, the rest of the school would never let them get away with it.

"Let's go home," her father said, not looking (or sounding) completely satisfied, and he steered her away from the field.

* * *

><p><strong>AN**: So, what do you think? I know not much happened here, but there were just some... things I needed to put in the story and that became this chapter :)


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N**: Chapter 12 already! :) (though, already...?) I finally made some sort of basic overview for this (instead of just a random document with everything thrown together without anything making sense), what I want to write about and all that, so hopefully, some stuff will start happening now. I know the build-up has been pretty slow, but I don't want to write 100 chapters of this (or, honestly, even 50). Anyway, trigger warning? I don't know if it's necessary, but just to be sure - you can always skip the third paragraph.

Anyway, I hope you'll like the chapter, and please leave a review at the bottom! :)

* * *

><p>Much too soon for Lucy's liking, another group project came up. She was even more displeased to find that all the books she'd been planning on borrowing for the project were nowhere to be found in the library. According to the librarian, someone had come in right before she had and had taken all the books.<p>

To say that Lucy was close to fuming would be an understatement. Yes, she had done the exact same thing the last time, but that had been weeks before the projects had to be finished and who on earth even started as early as she and Blaine did?

She groaned and let her head hit the locker. A group of passing sixth-graders snickered. "She hates herself so much that she's taking it all out on herself," one of them muttered. Once they were gone, she sighed deeply. No, she wasn't planning on hurting herself on purpose, ever. She couldn't imagine people doing that. But apparently, to those idiots just now, your head hitting a locker lightly was the same as being thrown into one. Not that that happened to her – no one liked to touch her, and she was too heavy for that anyway; she'd seen it happen to some skinny six-graders, though.

She stayed in that hallway until the lunch period was almost over. She suspected that she could sit with Blaine and his friends without having to be invited now, but she didn't seek them out purposefully. Maybe tomorrow.

Although she tried to catch Blaine after their final class, he must've already left. She'd have to talk to him the next day to figure out how to do their project. Maybe they could visit the public library in town. They should have books they could use as well.

o-o-o-o-o

When she entered the History classroom the next day, there was something lying on her desk. She approached it cautiously; who knew what people had decided she had to see now. Only when she reached her desk, she noticed Blaine smiling up at her innocently. Huh.

The something on her desk was a stack of paper. Looking through it curiously, Lucy quickly concluded that this was actually almost their entire next project.

Wait.

She whirled back around to face Blaine, who was now smiling proudly. "Did you do this?" Lucy demanded, pointing at the papers on her desk.

"Of course I did," Blaine replied simply. "After all, you did most of the work last time, so I figured it was my turn now. We can start actually doing them together next time."

Suddenly, a realisation hit her. "You're the one who took all the books from the library," she said, and Blaine nodded.

"I figured if I waited too long, you would take them and do everything yourself," he replied. "We can meet up this weekend, if you want, and write the conclusion together. That should give you enough time to read it all thoroughly and tell me what you thought and what should be changed."

"I – " She couldn't actually do that, right? She already felt lazy just thinking about it. But who knew what Blaine would do or say if she didn't accept this. The least she could do was read it through, right? She could always add to or change it. "Can I have the books as well, then?"

Blaine grinned, obviously glad that she wasn't protesting or telling him off. "Of course." He reached into his bag and took out a neat pile of books. "And sit with us for lunch, okay?"

Lucy never got the chance to respond; class was already starting.

o-o-o-o-o

She only had to endure five slurs thrown at her before it was time for lunch, and she was pretty sure it was a record of some sort. She also counted herself lucky that the guy who attempted to spit in her face missed and was actually seen and told off by one of the teachers for a change.

She shuffled towards the table Blaine and the others usually sat at, and they greeted her like an old friend. It was still somewhat mind-boggling that there were people willing to be seen around her.

"We were just talking boys," Rosie informed her, before giggling quietly, and Caroline quickly joined in.

"Boys?" Lucy echoed, frowning slightly. She glanced at the three boys sitting at the table, looking vaguely uncomfortable. They probably didn't like that all too much.

"Yeah, like," Jessica started, gesturing towards the guys, "who would you rather date out of these three?"

Blaine rolled his eyes at that; Michael just looked a bit bored. "Please spare us," he muttered.

"So is there anyone you like, Lucy?" Jessica asked, not put out by the boys' reaction.

Lucy felt her face heat up, and she had to focus primarily on not turning her head towards Andrew now. "I'm not allowed to date until High School," she muttered.

"Doesn't mean you can't look, right?" Caroline asked, grinning. "Come on, you can tell us!"

Who would want to date her anyway? Lucy cleared her throat awkwardly. "You – you don't know him. He doesn't go to school here."

"What's his name?" Rosie asked eagerly, and Lucy turned, if possible, even redder.

"Oh, come on, guys," Andrew spoke up. "Leave her alone."

"So what kind of girls do you like, Andrew?" Rosie asked him without missing a beat, and Lucy really couldn't have chosen a worse day to sit with this group.

"Well," Andrew started, and Lucy couldn't determine if he was actually given the question any thought or if he was stalling and hoping they'd ask someone else. He seemed to swallow nervously, but that must be Lucy's imagination. "Uh – smart, definitely. Not like, super smart or anything, necessarily, but not dumb. Dark hair, eyes… don't really matter. Brown-ish? Maybe glasses? Shorter than me, obviously."

Rosie snorted. "_Obviously_."

Lucy was taken by surprise. That actually kind of sounded like her. Well – her and a bunch of other girls at this school, that was. Including Rosie.

She really shouldn't be getting as worked up about this as she was.

In the meantime, the girls had started pointing out girls that could fit Andrew's description; all girls who, Lucy was certain, would be more than happy to go out with the soccer captain of the school.

"Or," Jessica said laughingly, "a female version of… that guy. Or that one. Or – Michael!" The girls burst out laughing again, while Andrew exchanged confused looks with both Michael and Blaine.

Soon enough, they started talking about something else – Lucy thought it was one of those shows her parents didn't want her to watch just yet – and the whole discussion was forgotten.

* * *

><p><strong>AN**: So... what do you think? Let me know, please review!


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N**: So... it's high time for Lucy's parents to meet Blaine, no? ;) Oh - just in case you haven't seen the latest Glee episode and have no idea what it's about, there's a minor character spoiler in this. That'll be it for today :)

Hopefully you'll enjoy the chapter, and please leave a review at the bottom! :)

* * *

><p>That weekend, it was Blaine's turn to come to Lucy's house. She hoped that he would find it okay, as she was aware that some people had issues with that. She also hoped that his parents would (miraculously) be home that weekend, because otherwise, he'd have to ride his bike or walk all the way there.<p>

Her mother had cleared out the dining room table for them, and she and Lucy's father would, most likely, be in the sitting room all throughout Blaine's visit. Lucy hoped that they wouldn't give him a hard time.

When the doorbell rang, she was shaken out of her thoughts, and she swiftly walked towards the front door. When she opened it, she was greeted by Blaine's wide smile.

"Hey!" he greeted her. "I'm not late, right?"

Lucy shook her head. "Did you walk here?" she asked, not seeing a bike.

"My brother gave me a ride," Blaine replied. "He's – he knows your sister, you know? Well, he knows of her. They went to school together, though they weren't in the same grade. He said he never knew she had a sister. Funny, right?"

"Yeah." Lucy had no idea that Blaine had a brother. "Come in." As he walked in and looked around, she asked, "Where was your brother when we did the previous project at yours?"

"He's not always there," Blaine replied. "He's always… gone, too. He just… comes over sometimes during the weekend when my parents aren't home. You know, to make sure I don't somehow get in trouble. He does it more for our parents than for me."

Lucy nodded. "Okay. Well, you can put up your coat and… my parents will probably want to meet you first."

"Sure," Blaine said simply, shrugging off his coat. "Did you read everything yet?"

Lucy nodded. She'd read it, and re-read it, and read it a few more times just to be sure. If she kept going at this rate, she would know the text by heart some time next week.

"Great," Blaine said, smiling. "We'll get to that soon, then. Now, your parents?"

Blaine truly was one of a kind, Lucy mused as she led him towards the sitting room. She couldn't imagine many teenage boys wanting to meet parents. When they entered the room, her parents' eyes were immediately drawn to Blaine, who smiled politely (but broadly) at them.

"Hello, Mr and Mrs Fabray," he greeted them. "It's so nice to meet you, I'm Blaine Anderson, Lucy's friend, as you probably already knew."

"Hello, Blaine," Lucy's father said, looking the boy up and down. Lucy noticed that her mother was also scrutinising him. Neither of them seemed interested in introducing themselves to the boy.

"You can go and work on your project now," her mother broke the silence after about a minute. "Let us know if you need anything, okay?"

Blaine smiled (though not as brightly as before) and gave a nod. When Lucy followed him out, she glanced over her shoulder at her parents. It figured that they wouldn't like the first person who'd called Lucy a friend in years.

Working on the project wasn't too big of a problem; Lucy simply stated what she thought should be changed, she and Blaine might argue about this or that matter for a short while, and then either change it or not. All in all, Lucy knew, Blaine had done a pretty good job at it. They then wrote a conclusion, which Lucy promised to type up as soon as possible and then send it to Blaine, who'd check it over, and then they'd hand it in.

Lucy had to admit, she was glad that, of all the people in her class, Blaine had become her partner for these projects, no matter how much she liked to complain in her head about the fact that he wouldn't just let her be and let her do everything, just so she had something to do.

When they finished doing their project, Blaine remarked, "You know, you have a really nice house."

"You think?" She said it before she realised it, and quickly clamped her mouth shut. Hopefully her parents hadn't heard that. "I mean," she continued in a lower voice, "thanks. I don't like it that much, but… it's home."

Blaine nodded. "Well, it's better than my house," he said. "Especially since my parents are never there anyway. At least yours are home sometimes. Right?"

Lucy nodded, but she wasn't so certain if it was necessarily a good thing that her parents were (almost) always home. "Right," she said.

A silence followed, during which Lucy pretended to reread the conclusion they'd written and Blaine glanced around the room once more. "Should I… text my brother?" he asked in the end. Lucy looked up.

"Well… I think we're about done here," she reminded him.

Blaine nodded. "Yeah. Okay." He pulled a phone (a much nicer one than the one Lucy owned) out of his pocket, and quickly messaged his brother.

Lucy cocked her head to the side. "You know, I didn't even realise you were wearing a _bow-tie_ until now…"

Blaine actually blushed at that. "Oh," he said. "Well, I really like them, so I tend to wear them during weekends, at least when my parents aren't around." Which was all the time, Lucy's mind helpfully supplied.

"They don't like them?" Lucy asked. She herself wasn't a big fan on them, but they suited Blaine somehow.

Blaine shook his head. "Not really. And I doubt most kids in school would, so I don't wear them there. But that's alright." Then, his phone vibrated, and he glanced at it. "That's Cooper," he said distractedly. "He should be here in about ten minutes. Would that be okay?"

Lucy nodded. "Sure."

They didn't talk much during those ten minutes – it was pretty awkward – so Lucy was secretly grateful when Blaine's brother showed up three minutes early. After Blaine insisted on saying goodbye to Lucy's parents, he was out of the door, and Lucy went to pick up the stack of papers on the dining room table.

After bringing them to her room, she went back downstairs, to her parents. They probably wanted to pass their judgement now.

"Better be careful around that boy, Lucy," her father said.

Her mother seemed to agree. "I'm not sure if you should be hanging out with him."

"He's the only one who's voluntarily talked to me without putting me down in years," Lucy protested. "Why?"

Her parents exchanged a nervous look. "We just don't think it would be smart to… associate with him," her father said. "Don't let him give you any strange ideas, okay?"

"We won't forbid you to hang out with him," her mother said. "Not yet. Just… be careful, honey."

Lucy, by now, had no idea what her parents were even talking about, so she just nodded. "I will," she promised; after all, it wasn't as if she normally wasn't careful around everyone she met. Just because some of them wanted to be her friends, that didn't mean that she would just trust them like that.

If only her parents weren't as reserved as they were being right now and would just tell her what they were talking about. Then again, this was probably just another case of her parents being her parents again.

* * *

><p><strong>AN**: So, what do you think? Let me know, please review!


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N**: So this one's a bit shorter... I hope you'll like it anyway, though :) Also, a question: would it bother you a whole lot if I put a chapter in here that's from someone else's (so not Lucy's, and (probably) not Blaine's either) POV? I'm not really sure how it would happen, but some stuff that's coming up might be explained better from another person's POV, and Lucy will, most likely, never hear the full story anyway. I know this is my story and I should be able to do whatever I want with it, but if everyone's opposed to a change of POV for one chapter, I might reconsider :)

Anyway, hopefully you'll enjoy this chapter, and please leave a review when you're finished :)

* * *

><p>Over the next few weeks, Lucy gradually allowed herself to spend more and more time with Blaine and his friends – during lunch, that was. She still didn't see any of them after school, except for that one glimpse she caught of Caroline every Sunday after church.<p>

They still had a lot of inside jokes Lucy didn't get, and there were all kinds of memories the group had together of things Lucy had never even heard of. Still, it was nice to have some people to talk to every now and then, she had to admit.

The presentation she and Blaine had had to do went rather well, Lucy thought. Maybe that was because their classmates mostly left Blaine alone, and therefore, didn't target her either while they were presenting. It was a welcome change.

During lunch one day, Lucy found herself staring at Andrew again, without even noticing it herself. This crush was getting seriously out of hand. What if someone saw her? They'd never want to have anything to do with her anymore.

Blaine was telling the group about how his brother had left yet another college to go to New York this time, and Jessica shook her head disbelievingly.

"He decided to go New York, just like that?" she asked Blaine. "That's sort of insane."

Blaine nodded in agreement. "I know, that's what I said. But he thinks that he's got what it takes to make it there." He sighed. "I mean, I want to go to New York as well some time. Maybe even for college. But not as unprepared as Cooper's going."

"Well, you have to admit, he is pretty dreamy," Rosie commented, giggling slightly.

"Oh, I'm not denying that," Jessica assured her. "I have eyes, you know."

"You can't make it in New York just because you're somewhat good-looking, though," Michael commented, scrunching up his nose.

"_Somewhat_ good looking?" Jessica countered, sounding almost amused. "Really, Michael. If you were half as handsome as Cooper, you'd be warding off girls with a stick. Andrew, you're a guy," she continued, gesturing towards the boy. "Even you can see that Blaine's brother is hot, can't you?"

Andrew blinked, his eyes growing wide. "Uh – sure. I guess?"

"Can we please stop talking about my brother?" Blaine asked, sounding very annoyed. "I get that enough when – never mind."

"As you wish," Rosie said, patting him on the back, but shooting Jessica a significant look that told Lucy that they'd definitely be continuing this conversation when Blaine wasn't around some time. "Lucy – do you have any siblings?"

As always, Lucy was surprised when someone actually talked to her during the break. Sure, she'd been told to sit with them and join the conversation too many times to count, but she never had any idea whatsoever what she could contribute to the conversation.

After getting over the initial shock, Lucy nodded cautiously. "I have a sister. She's six years older than me, though."

Caroline studied her for a moment. "Frannie, right?"

Lucy nodded. "Yeah. Francine, actually, after our grandmother, but everyone calls her Frannie." After a few seconds, she asked, "How did you know?"

"I have a cousin who's a school friend of James'," Caroline replied.

Lucy nodded tersely. "Right."

Another discussion soon followed, during which Lucy fell silent again; so, however, did all three boys, which was odd. Normally, at least one of them talked along with the girls, and if they didn't, the girls would practically drag them into the conversation. Choosing to think nothing of it for now, Lucy turned in her seat so her body was angled towards Rosie and Caroline, instead of Andrew. It was for the best.

o-o-o-o-o

On Thursday, Lucy's parents texted her halfway through the day to tell her to stay at school after she was done for the day, instead of taking the school bus back home. When (after a great amount of hesitation) Lucy texted them back to ask why, her mother just replied that they'd be picking her up on their way to Frannie's. Apparently, there were some wedding details that had to be discussed and then they, along with James' parents, would all be going out for dinner together.

So when the final bell rang, Lucy headed towards the school library. It sounded like she wouldn't have time to do her homework later that day, so she was intent on using her time at school as efficiently as possible.

When she entered the library, she instantly noticed that she wasn't the only person there. Andrew was standing with his back towards the entrance, glancing at a tiny map of the library that also indicated where the books on different subjects were.

Hesitantly carrying on walking, Lucy decided not to say anything. It was obvious that he didn't want to be disturbed.

She'd only been in the library for about ten minutes when footsteps came to a half in front of her table. She stiffened for a moment before remembering that no one actually tried to insult or hurt her in the library. There were security cameras here, and therefore, it would be much easier to catch them in the library than anywhere else in the school.

When she finally looked up, she noticed it was actually Andrew, who smiled sheepishly at her. "Hey," she greeted him, trying not to sound too eager. "What brings you here?"

"Nothing," Andrew responded hurriedly, and Lucy frowned. Obviously, that meant there was something. "Nothing… important."

"Are you alright?" she asked, trying to keep her voice low.

"Yeah." Andrew coughed awkwardly. "I just think – never mind. I should really talk to Rosie about this." He shifted from one foot to another before adding, "I'll see you tomorrow, Lucy."

She watched him leave, and sighed. Of course. Rosie. Much to her dismay, Lucy hadn't quite been able to find something to dislike about the girl. She was simply a nice girl. Maybe even too nice; Rosie was almost like a female version of Blaine in that respect.

But what did they need to discuss? Lucy didn't have a clue. With another sigh, she glanced back down at the desk, where her homework was lying. Suddenly, she wished she could've just left school after classes were done, even if that meant having to ride the school bus with all her classmates. She reckoned that this day would only get worse, considering that fact that she had a meeting with Frannie, James, and James' parents to look forward to.

She'd better continue doing that homework.

* * *

><p><strong>AN**: So... what do you think? Let me know, please review!


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N**: So... chapter 15. From Rosie's POV. The next one will probably be Lucy's POV again, though. I feel like all of you probably saw this coming already, but... perhaps it's still somewhat of a surprise? Who knows :)

Anyway, hopefully you'll enjoy the chapter, and please leave a review when you reach the bottom of the page :)

* * *

><p>"What's going on, Andrew?" Rosie frowned slightly as her friend fidgeted in his seat. It was rather unnerving; Andrew never fidgeted.<p>

"There's something I have to tell you," he said, quietly enough for her to have to strain to hear him. "Are – are your parents…?"

"They're not here," she said, repeating the words she was sure she'd also said when he'd come in. "There's nobody here, except for us."

He breathed out slowly and swallowed. "There's someone – " he started eventually, before shuddering visibly. When Rosie reached out for him, though, he avoided her hand. "I like someone, Rose. And it's – it's going to mess up _everything_."

Rosie blinked. Liking somebody wasn't so bad, right? She was sure that most of the people at school had liked someone at some point, and she knew for a fact that Caroline still liked that guy she liked at the end of the previous school year, but was now in high school. "Everyone has crushes, Andrew," she therefore told him. "Everybody at school does. I'm sure it's not that bad."

"It is, though," he muttered. "It'll screw up everything, Rose, I just – I know it."

"What exactly is it going to screw up?" she asked cautiously. "The social order at school? But I thought you didn't care much for that."

He snorted. "No, I don't. And – god, I hadn't even thought about it in that way. And I know I don't – _we_ don't care about the social order. Everybody else still does."

"So… you like someone who's a lot less popular than you are?" Rosie guessed. "Like, Lucy, or…? Because we wouldn't – "

"No," Andrew muttered. "No, it's not her. But in a way – yes."

That didn't make much sense, not to Rosie, at least. "Look, Andrew. I can't read your mind. You're going to have to tell me what's wrong or I won't be able to help you."

"You couldn't help me anyway," he muttered. Noticing the suddenly unimpressed look on her face, he hastily backpedalled. "I mean – once it's out – " He broke off to snort once more, and he shook his head. "Once everybody knows… I doubt there'll be anything you could do."

"It'll be a mess," she repeated his earlier words. "Okay. Wait – do you like someone in our group? Because we're all way less popular than you are, and don't even try to argue. The rest of the school probably thinks we're all somehow related and that's why we're sticking together, even though none of us look alike." She paused. "Though I don't really know how that would result in a mess for the entire school."

"Yeah," Andrew said quietly. "It's – it's someone in our group."

Rosie eyed him suspiciously. "I swear to God, Andrew, even though I'm not even a Christian, if – "

"It's not you, Rosie," he told her, rolling his eyes, almost smiling. "Did you really think – you're insane, you know that, right?"

"So you've told me about a thousand times," she replied. "So… are you afraid to mess up our friendship, or…?" When he nodded, she moved slightly. "Who is it, then? We'll figure something out together, I promise."

He sighed, before looking her straight in the eyes. "It's Michael." He let out what sounded like a strangled sob. "I'm gay, Rose, and I – " He didn't get any further, as she was already wrapping him in a hug, trying to calm him down. It was more than obvious that he had no idea what to do, and, to be completely honest – neither did she.

o-o-o-o-o

"Why are we here, Rosie?" Jessica looked from Andrew, who still looked like a mess, to Rosie. "Not that we don't appreciate a little us-time, but…"

"This is not going to be regular us-time, is it?" Caroline continued, before slowly walking towards Andrew and crouching down in front of him. "What did you _do_ to him, Rose?"

"I didn't do anything," Rosie replied, gesturing towards the two girls to sit down before sitting down at the back of the couch herself. "But… we may have a bit of a problem."

Caroline shot her a disapproving look. "Please don't tell me you're pregnant."

"What?" Jessica asked, looking at the other girl disbelievingly. "Why would that be the problem?"

Caroline shrugged. "Sorry. I just thought – we're all so serious suddenly. And that always seems to be the problem on TV. Well, either that or cheating. But neither of you is in a relationship, so that wouldn't make sense."

"No, she's not pregnant. I think." It was the first time Andrew spoke since the other two girls got there. "It's me. Who has the problem, I mean."

"It shouldn't have to be a problem," Rosie stated instantly, and Andrew pulled a face.

"Try to tell… well, the state of Ohio that."

"The state of Ohio?" Jessica asked, clearly not understanding. "Guys – wait. You don't have a family problem, do you? Because that really – "

She broke off as Andrew's face clouded over. "Oh, god," he muttered. "I still have to tell my parents, please don't remind me."

"Tell them what?" Jessica asked, reaching out worriedly to grab one of his hands.

"That I'm gay." Once again, the words stumbled out in a haste, and again, Andrew clamped his mouth shut.

"You're gay?" Caroline sounded confused. "But – can I – I'll be right back."

As soon as the door to the hall closed after her, Andrew sighed. "She hates me now, doesn't she?"

"Of course she doesn't," Rosie tried to soothe him, trying to communicate to Jessica that she should react in some way.

"It's okay," the other girl muttered. "It'll be okay." She squeezed the hand she'd just grabbed. "We'll figure something out."

They sat in silence for a minute, and then the door opened again, and Caroline walked back in. "I'm sorry," she said, sitting back down. "I shouldn't – " She bit her lip and sighed, smiling apologetically at Andrew. "They've always told me that it's wrong and – it's going to take some time to get used to the idea, even though it's not even… about me. That sounds so stupid. Sorry. I know it can't be easy for you. My parents don't really have a clear opinion about the matter, you know. Not like most people in church. But you're still – you're still Andrew. Our silly lump of a friend. Right?"

The group hug that followed was definitely _not_ initiated by Andrew.

o-o-o-o-o

"Hey, guys." Blaine seemed surprised to see them, and Rosie could understand his confusion. They hadn't called that they were coming, which usually _did_ happen, and none of them looked particularly happy. "Come in."

"Are your parents home?" Jessica asked as she took off her coat, and Blaine sent her a pointed look.

"Of course not," he replied. "You know where to go, right? Do you want anything to drink or something?"

"Yeah, that would be – " Michael started, but Rosie cut him off.

"No, thanks. Come on, Michael." She then proceeded to drag the boy, whom they'd practically kidnapped from his own home on their way to Blaine's, towards the sitting room. "Let's sit and chat, okay?"

"Okay, now you're creeping me out." Michael wrenched his arm out of Rosie's grip and sat down with a huff. Blaine was still standing near the door, clearly wondering what was going on.

"Just sit," Jessica repeated. "Come on over here, Blaine. We need to talk."

Blaine pulled a face. "Oh no, are you breaking up with me?"

"I will if you don't get your cute hobbit butt over here," she retorted, and Blaine pretended to look scandalised. In the end, however, he grudgingly sat down anyway.

"So what's up?" Michael asked, wasting no time. "Why did you decide to abduct me from my home and invade Blaine's house?"

"Well, it's a pretty serious matter," Rosie told them. "And… we thought you should know." The short version, that was. Neither boy needed to know about Andrew's somewhat unfortunate crush on Michael, who, as far as they were aware, was straight – unless, of course, Andrew chose to tell them.

"And we need to discuss a plan of action after that," Jessica added, sending Blaine a strict look, as the boy was already starting to get restless.

When neither Michael nor Blaine made any kind of remark, Rosie nodded at Andrew to begin. She knew this was probably the hardest part for him so far – telling the guy he liked that he was gay, even if said guy had no idea of his crush. Then again, at least Andrew had the three girls to back him up if something went wrong.

"Yeah," Andrew started, coughing awkwardly. "Uh – it's about me. I'm… gay." He sounded more collected than the two times before, which, Rosie figured was a good thing. Perhaps he'd be so accustomed to saying it out loud that he wouldn't have any trouble telling his parents later.

Blaine just blinked, looking surprised. "Oh. Really?"

Andrew, looking relieved that at least one of his guy friends reacted mostly curiously, smiled slightly. "Yes, Blaine. Really."

"So you're absolutely sure?" Michael asked, looking somewhat concerned. "Because you know that most people in school aren't going to like this, right?"

"I know," Andrew replied quietly. "But all of you reacted well, so… maybe it won't be that bad?"

"We're your friends, of course we react well," Blaine said, smiling. "I mean, not that we wouldn't accept it from anyone else, of course, but… you already knew we're awesome like that, right?"

"Blaine, you're not making much sense," Caroline scolded him. "Still, though, he's sort of right. Of course we still like you." She smiled meekly at Andrew. "You'll have to do something worse than turn out to be gay for us not to be your friends anymore."

"You're really planning on coming out at school, then?" Michael asked, still looking worried, and Andrew seemed to hesitate for a moment before nodding.

"Yeah. After I tell my parents, of course." He took a deep breath. "I know who I am, and I'm not going to hide it."

They all smiled at that, though Blaine's smile looked a bit more pensive than the others', Rosie noted. He was probably just worried about his friend's safety, though.

"Right," she said, sitting up. "So we need to think of a plan now."


End file.
